OmniBasic

The package includes some small sample programs and a small, yet fairly complete, manual that references the OmniBasic language.

Manufacturer: Computer Design Lab

Phone: 573-236-4644

URL:
http://www.bmtmicro.com/catalog/omnibasic.html

Price: $89 US (per copy)

Reviewer: Eric Harlow

After having installed several compilers that consume 50
megabytes of disk space, it was a relief to install a compiler that
was this small—less than one megabyte. The package includes some
small sample programs and a small, yet fairly complete, manual that
references the OmniBasic language.

The OmniBasic compiler runs across several platforms, and the
programs written for one should compile on the other platforms
assuming that you do not have any platform dependencies.

Basic has evolved since the days of line numbers on every
line, and this product has evolved too. The OmniBasic language is a
“structured” basic language that is mostly backwards compatible
with the old, line-numbered programs (just in case you need to run
one of those stored on your cassette tape). The language features
subroutines and functions with parameters, structured loops, file
I/O, built-in string-manipulation routines (RIGHT$, MID$, LEFT$)
and math functions. It also has the ability to manipulate pointers
and access system functions. For backwards compatibility and for
people with poor coding techniques, the language also contains the
GOSUB and GOTO statements and supports line numbers.

The language takes the approach of the gnu FORTRAN compiler
by converting the BASIC code to C and letting the gnu C compiler
finish up the work. As a result, the programs are fast and compact,
although not as small as straight C code. The OmniBasic compiler
will show the output as C or assembly language, and C code can be
mixed with BASIC.

OmniBasic has recently added GUI support using XForms. The
beta version I tested worked well, and the release version should
be out by the time you read this review. The GUI support is also
expected to be cross-platform.

Summary

OmniBasic is a small, well-documented package for Linux. The
language is small and easy to pick up. The addition of GUI support
makes it an easy language in which to write those quick graphical
interfaces.

Eric Harlow
has been running NetBrain on Linux
since February 1996. He's currently a consultant at RDA Consultants
Ltd. His e-mail address is brain@netbrain.com.